At Benton Park School, we believe that good attendance is central to a students’ academic achievement and personal development. In reality, if a student is not in school, they cannot take advantage of the excellent opportunities that are available each day.
By providing a vibrant learning environment, consistently good teaching and learning and an exciting range of extra-curricular activities, we encourage students to come to school. However, we will also provide the support and challenge needed to help students overcome the difficulties in their lives which can lead to poor attendance.
Whilst it is the parent or carer’s responsibility to ensure that their children are present at school, all adults in school who work directly with students take a responsibility for good attendance.
Our current whole school attendance target is 96%. The minimum expected attendance for students is 97%.
“Every Day Counts”
Your child’s Attendance target is 97%
Impact of Missing School Over Time
|
Attendance during one school year |
Equals days absent |
Which is approximately weeks absent |
Which means the number of lessons missed |
Absences over 5 years |
|
97% |
5 days |
1 week |
25 lessons |
1 Month 1 week |
|
95% |
9 Days |
2 Weeks |
50 Lessons |
¼ Year |
|
90% |
19 Days |
4 Weeks |
100 lessons |
½ Year |
|
80% |
38 Days |
8 Weeks |
200 Lessons |
1 Year |
|
70% |
57 Days |
11 ½ Weeks |
288 Lessons |
1 ¼ Year |
|
60% |
80 Days |
16 Weeks |
400 Lessons |
2 Years |
Students should arrive on time every day, fully equipped and in full school uniform.
Students should arrive at each lesson on time. The first bell is at 8.25am and students are expected to be in school ready for learning by 8.30am; they are deemed late to school if they arrive at their lesson at 8.30am.
Where there is a genuine and unavoidable reason for absence parents/carers must contact the Attendance Office on 0113 2502330 on the first day. If a date of return canot be provided, parents must contact the school on each additional day of the absence until the student returns.
Please note all doctor or dental appointments should be made for after school or in holiday time. School holidays account for 14 weeks of the year and parents/carers are expected to arrange all family holidays during these times.
Leave of Absence
Please note we will not grant permission for holidays during term time. The policy is in line with current statutory guidelines which came into effect in September 2013.
The Headteacher will decide whether or not an absence should be authorised. The Headteacher will only authorise leave of absence in term time where there are exceptional reasons for a child to miss school.
Unavoidable or exceptional term time absence requests should be made via the ‘Leave of Absence Form’ prior to any arrangements being made. The application should be, wherever possible, submitted at least 3 months before the planned absence, and absences cannot be authorised retrospectively. It will only be in extremely exceptional circumstances that any leave of absence of more than 5 days will be granted.
In the following circumstances leave is highly likely NOT to be authorised:
- The request is for a family holiday.
- The student’s attendance over the year is less than 95%.
- There is a school examination during the period of leave.
- There are public examinations or coursework deadlines immediately before, after or during the proposed leave.
- The student has a serious deficit of work to catch-up owing to recent long illnesses or serious underachievement.
- The student is in a year with public examinations.
- The request is for a day or days immediately before or after a school holiday.
In all cases of student absence, it is the responsibility of the student to catch up on any work they miss during an absence.
If your request is not authorised:
- This will be coded as an unauthorised absence on your child’s register record.
- The school will not provide work during the period of absence.
Where family holidays or leave of absence are taken without the permission of the school, parents/carers can be given a Penalty Notice (fine) for periods of unauthorised absence.
